Total Commitment

Read Numbers 7-9
 
Numbers 9:21-22 Sometimes the cloud stayed only from evening till morning, and when it lifted in the morning, they set out. Whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud lifted, they set out. 22 Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year, the Israelites would remain in camp and not set out; but when it lifted, they would set out.
 
THIS is faithfulness – a total commitment to God’s leading. Oh, may it be our desire to live such a life! Out in the desert, a place the Israelites had never been, over 1 million people were attentive to God’s leading. Is there any place or any time in history such determination to obey God’s direction by so many people? What a wonder it must have been to see God act so personally and clearly with his people.
    Do you wonder how their minds responded to God’s intimate presence? Perhaps they thought of the future. Where was God leading them? Would their new home be better than Egypt? Would their children thrive? Would this difficult life in the desert lead to a land fertile for crops, bearing fruit and olives for oil? Can we believe the LORD God’s promises? Would the LORD always be such a personal God, faithful to lead us?
    These are questions we may have.  Do you wonder if God will provide for your rent, your daily food, your work and your family? Will he lead you in times of trouble and suffering? Will he be personal, intimate with me, so I can see him clearly?
    We can praise God for the answers to these questions. We know the Hebrews struggled in many ways. And we all know struggles and uncertainty in our own lives. And this we also know: God has always shown he is with those who follow his leading. Yes, the Christian life guarantees suffering in some form. Sometimes faithful Christians die because God leads them into the enemy’s camp. This is the way of God. Knowing Christ, we know who we are: a people led by Jesus: Romans 8:37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
    The one Lord has opened the one way for you to eternally go with him. Out of sin’s desert, he surely, leads us into eternal glory. Are you totally committed to wait on the Lord, then to go with him?
 
Praise the Leader: Galatians 3:24 So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.